The Enemy of My Enemy
by Seliphra
Summary: When Lance wakes up after ten thousand years with only his Princess and her assistant having survived the destruction of their entire civilization, he's at a loss. Even his long time dream of being one of the Paladin's of Voltron doesn't bring him much comfort. And to make matters worse, the Red Paladin turns out to be an enemy, one of the very kind who destroyed his world.
1. It's Always Been My Dream

So this first chapter sort-of follows the canon pretty closely, including a lot of similar dialogue, and scenes, with minor alterations or deletions. It will diverge though after this pretty heavily, so please bear with this slower start, I promise it gets better! This chapter we're following Lance, and next chapter we will follow Keith, and learn about all six of the Galra genders at once! Also special thanks to EreAsha for help with brainstorming and ideas, I owe you big time!

Warnings: Mentions of sexual slavery, mentions of rape against non-canon characters, Galra!Keith, Altean!Lance, the Galra have six genders in this, mpreg (kind of because Keith isn't a man and doesn't understand having only two genders), canon-typical violence, slow burn

* * *

Lance had always dreamed of being a Voltron paladin. When he was little, he would picture himself as the Black Paladin, a true leader, like it's real paladin. When he was a little older, in his fifties and nearly finished his education he thought maybe being the Red Paladin would be more suited to him. Temperamental and the choosiest of the lions, but even when a spot opened up and even on his one hundredth birthday, it was not to be. Red chose a Khalan that day, accepting it's new paladin, much to Lance's dismay.

No, being a Paladin of Voltron was not in the stars for Lance, it seemed, though he wished it more than anything. Instead he came to work for his people's King, King Alfor. He was one of the greatest kings Altea had ever known, and Lance consoled himself with knowing that Alfor wasn't a Paladin of Voltron either. When Lance had turned one-hundred and twenty, the Black Lion chose a new paladin again, a Galra warrior named Zarkon. Lance was jealous again of that, but he got o work in the Castle of Lions anyways. He didn't get to speak to the Paladins much, they were busy keeping the universe safe from harm. But Lance did get to see the lions a lot.

Lance would visit them all, from time to time, an engineer who worked on them. The Blue Lion always needed the most repair, as Blue Paladin's tended to be a bit reckless. The Red Lion needed the second most amount, their natural skill keeping them safe most of the time, but their hot tempers and impulsiveness causing more problems for them ultimately. Lance longed to be a pilot... but then the war came. The Black Paladin turned on them all, Zarkon leading the Galran army against the Castle of Lions. King Alfor sent the lions away, all save the Black lion, and set a course for a planet far away, safe from Zarkon's reach.

Arus had no sentient life on it, but before they reached it there was an attack by Zarkon. They had to jump, rest, jump, rest, and the fleet caught up with them. Alfor's daughter was already sealed away, the beautiful princess in stasis, safe as could be, and Alfor tried to send the rest of the crew off too. The escape pods were shot at, most being captured or destroyed before they could get away, and Lance grabbed the arm of one of the other men. Coran, he was an advisor to the King, and Lance pulled him to the pods instead.

"We're dead if we go out there, but we might be okay in here right? And the King can let us out if we're okay, and then there's still someone on board who can help, right?" Lance explained.

"That's good thinking there. Let's hope the ship survives it's journey, and if we're still alive on the other side, remind me to get your name!" Coran said as they both entered a pod on their own. The ship did survive the journey, setting down on it's own, empty of life, except for the contents of three pods on the pod-deck.

And so there they slept, for ten thousand years. Alone, quiet, and forgotten by time and the Galra, as the world they had landed on marched on, forming new life, and across the galaxy three people found a yellow lion in a cave on a planet called Earth.

* * *

Heavy. Lance felt heavy as he came back to awareness again, and he could hear voices...

"Are these guys... dead?" It was a deeper voice, scared sounding, right before the woosh of his pod opening and Lance blinked his eyes open. Three bipedal creatures stood there in the room. One was crouching behind the control panel, a very short one was standing at the control panel, and a tall one, dressed all in black to the left of the tiny one. The next pod to open contained the princess and as she woke she tried to step forward.

"Father..." She gasped as she reached out and Lance did try to catch her, but he still felt heavy, and like his limbs weren't working quite right. Both of them hit the floor, the princess landing on top of him, which caused Lance to turn bright red.

"P-Princess! Are you alright?" Lance managed to squeak out as she blinked and sat back, confused. She frowned at the sight of the three strange bipeds who were all staring at them too.

"I'm fine... who are you three? Where is King Alfor? And what are you doing in my castle?" She asked, standing back up again. The three bipeds jumped and looked between each other before the dark-skinned, frightened looking one spoke. Lance recognized his voice as the one that had spoken right as his pod had opened.

"A giant yellow lion brought us here! That's all we know!" He whimpered, looking afraid of her. He should be, Princess Allura was much stronger than Lance was, all female Altean's were stronger than the men.

"How do you have the Yellow Lion? What happened to it's Paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless... how long has it been?" Allura asked, her expression concerned. Lance swallowed lightly at the thought... could it really have been long enough for the Yellow Lion to need a new Paladin? What about the other Lions then?

"We... don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are, maybe we can help?" The tall one spoke. He had an obvious scar across his nose, but no gender markers on his cheek bones. They're ears were hideous too, Lance noticed now. He seemed genuine though, paternal in some ways.

"I am Princess Allura, of planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are, and how long we've been asleep," Allura said, walking towards the control panel. It lit up when she touched it and Lance turned his attention to the last pod, one ear twitching lightly when he heard the little one say something. He didn't pay much attention to it as he tapped a few buttons to wake Coran up too. The pod wooshed open and Coran took one look around before gasping.

"ENEMY COMBATANTS!" He shouted as he leaped out of his sleep pod, surprisingly spry considering how heavy Lance had felt. How heavy Lance still felt. Despite that, Lance stepped easily to one side and Coran landed, stumbling into the sleep pod. "Quiznak... you're lucky I have a case of the old sleep-chamber knee's or I'd grab you like this, wrap you up like so and... one, two, three, sleepy time!"

"Coran... it's me. I got into the sleep pod next to you. I'm Altean..." Lance said, looking thoroughly underwhelmed. "And anyways, if I was an enemy combatant, I would whoh! Hyah! Hwuah! Like that!" Lance jumped and punched the air to show him. Not to be out done though, Coran glared and got into a crouch.

"Oh really? Well how could you do that when I've already come at you with this?! Hya, hya, hya, hyey!" He jabbed at the air, while the scared looking alien watched them especially closely.

"Wow... these guys are good!" He mumbled, though he jumped nearly a foot when Allura spoke, suddenly, despite her soft tone which was both dismayed and upset.

"It can't be... we've been asleep for ten thousand years... planet Altea, and all of the planets in our solar system... have been destroyed. Father is gone... our entire civilization..." Her face fell slowly as she spoke and Lance felt like he'd been punched in the gut when she said it. Coran looked how Lance felt too, as though all the air had been sucked right out of him, and despair filled the void it left inside.

"Zarkon..." Allura said next, her eye's narrowing, her tone filled with anger and hate. Lance felt the same, scowling at the name and feeling an intense burning inside. Everything was gone... everything was just... gone. His parents, his siblings, his niece and nephew, not even in their twenties yet and still so tiny! All gone... no. Not gone. Murdered.

"Zarkon... yes. I remember now, I was his prisoner..." The taller alien spoke now, a fearful expression on his face. Lance, Allura, and Coran all looked at him in concern. Lance wanted answers from these aliens, but he knew they had to be gentle. If one of them was a prisoner of the Galra Empire, of Zarkon... then they were likely as innocent as the Altean's had been too.

"He's still alive? But that's impossible!" Allura said, scowling softly. Lance thought so too... Altean's had extraordinarily long life spans, and Galra did have pretty decent ones too... but Lance knew the oldest most Galra lived to be was in their three hundreds, at least for Zarkon's gender. Some lived much longer, but they were mostly druids if he remembered right. He'd known much less about the Galra than he'd realized... four genders... or was it six? And only one gender could give birth... was that right?

"I can't explain it, but it's true. He's searching for a super-weapon called Voltron. I heard them talking about it during my time there," The tall one said, "my name is Takashi Shirogane, by the way. The short one is Pidge Gunderson, and the scared one is Hunk Garret."

"He's searching for it, because he knows it is the only thing that can defeat him. Which is exactly why we must find it before he does. I don't know you very well... even you, I'm afraid, although you are one of the last Altean's too..." She looked to Lance now, her eyes sad. Did... she pity him? Lance didn't like that, it felt uncomfortable.

"Lance... I was one of the mechanic's for the Lion's..." He said, though now... now they had to find out where they had gone.

"Of course. Lance. It is good to have you here too. Come on, all of you. We're going to find the rest of the lions now, and get them back..." She wasn't sure they had enough to form Voltron though. Four... these four seemed to fit what they needed, but no one seemed to fit what they needed for the Red Lion. It was a bit of a walk to the control room, a place Lance had only been a few times before despite living and working here for so long.

"King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force. She alone can find the other four lions," Coran said.

"Five lions... so how many of us are going to be pilots?" Shiro asked, looking between them. Allura frowned as she lit up the control panels, the whole galexy seeming to appear inside the control room with them. The three aliens gasped in amazement as they looked around.

"The Black Lion appears to be in the same location as the Yellow Lion..." The small one named Pidge said, looking at the map. So they had kept the Black Lion on board after all? Lance supposed it made sense. The attack had happened before the Black Lion could be hidden, and with no pilot to take it to the corners of the universe...

"Yes. The Black Lion is here. It is the decisive head of Voltron, and it will take a pilot who is a born leader, and in control at all times. Someone who's men will follow without hesitation. That is why Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion." Allura declared. The alien named Shiro looked pretty serious at that, and Lance had no doubt that Allura was wrong about him. He looked like a leader, and so far the aliens all seemed to deffer to him when he said anything. She spoke of the green lion next, and Lance started tuning her out. She and Coran would likely be the pilots of the other lions too...

"Lance? Lance! Did you hear me? Are you alright?" Allura and the aliens were staring at him suddenly, though mostly with concerned expressions on their faces. His mind had wandered to his family again. He couldn't stop thinking about how gone they were... how he would never even know what happened to them, how they died.

"I... uh... sorry..." He blinked and looked at the small blue lion image in front of him. Wait... him?

"As... I said. Lance, you will pilot the Blue Lion. As for the Red Lion, I fear... we may not be able to find a pilot for it. None of us are suited for it, but it's possible we simply haven't met the Red Paladin yet. It is just as well, as I can't seem to locate the Red Lion either. There might be something wrong with the castle though. After ten thousand years, it wouldn't surprise me..." Allura said with a small smile.

"Alright. Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion then. Lance, Hunk, you two find the Blue Lion. If you manage to locate the Red Lion while we're gone then we'll have to try and get it here, at least, unless we happen to find a paladin for it along the way..." They divided up then, Lance tuning out the new Yellow Paladin as they headed to the doors of the castle again. Everything felt like a dream right now. He was going to pilot one of the lion's of Voltron... and yet... he wanted more than anything to wake up and have this all be a horrific nightmare.


	2. The Escape of the Red Paladin

A/N: This chapter deals with themes of slavery and sexual slavery, though not explicitly. It is pretty well implied, however, and this may be triggering or upsetting to some readers. Reader discretion is advised. Otherwise: This chapter is about 1000 words longer than I meant it to be, and we're still... mostly following some parts of canon, but we're completely leaving canon behind in the next chapter (or... mostly). Following Keith this chapter, and it is a bit slow as I'm explaining the six genders that I'm giving to the Galra. I know some people explain the differences in their species as sub-types/sub-species. I am choosing genders instead because I like the idea of a species with several genders.

* * *

Keith had never been very good at obeying what was set out for him. Keith had never followed the path that was laid out for him, and he had no real regrets around that, beyond not knowing if they had punished the only person in the universe he loved for it. Keith walked through the ship, double checking the locks on the prison cells to make sure no one could get out -not that they had anywhere to go- and that no one could try to fight the guards -not that any of them would.

Nothing interesting happened on his ship. Ever. But then again, he liked it that way, since it kept the others on board from discovering his secret. Keith wasn't meant to be a soldier. No one born a qylar was ever meant to be one, so they told him. So of course, when one of the war ships full of horny soldiers had docked with the nursery ship that was his one time home, he knocked out the air lock guard, stole his uniform, and slipped on board in his place.

Keith had changed ships several times since then, and no one seemed to notice -or if they did they didn't care enough to report him to any officers- that he was not the soldier his name plate said he was. Keith was the most useless gender one could be, while being a Galra. The qylar were shorter, thinner, and had wider set hips, tails, and were the only one of the six Galra genders that could give birth. This was their absolute duty to the empire, the gol on board his ships had told him, and every other young qylar born the same year he was. To give birth every two and a half years, to provide the empire with soldiers to send off to serve the empire in better ways.

Gol, despite their total infertility, were the only gender in the Galra who could use magic which made them very important and useful to the empire. They were hunched, with stark white, long fur on their heads, more similar to what others might call hair. Their skin was purplish blue and furless ans their eye's were yellow, and red stripes adorned their wrists, ankles, hips, neck, shoulders, and cheeks. They usually all became druids, though the weaker ones were sent to the nursery ships to keep the qylar in line. Not that this took much effort.

Keith was taller than most qylar though, which helped him blend in on the ship. His armour hid his distinctive figure and his tail, his eyes were as yellow as any Galra, other than gal, and his heat cycle he repressed by dieting, which though irritating, was certainly better than being found out and sent back to what fate awaited him on board the nursery ship. He avoided the healing, soothing purr by simply never being happy -not a difficult task actually, if one asked him, and no one did.

The gal were the only of the six genders not to have yellow eyes. Their skin was scalier too, certainly compared to the light fur that covered Keith's body. In fact by contrast, the gal had no hair at all on their bodies. Purple eyes... and they were generally taller and bulkier, and physically stronger than the other genders. They were considered one of the better genders to be born, since that was what their emperor Zarkon was. This apparently offered few advantages though in the army itself, as they were more often than not brute force.

The qvir were the most similar to qylar, and it was a qvir Keith pretended to be. Like qylar, they had fur, larger ears, that pivoted and a darker purple tuft of fur that grew longer on their heads, though most shaved it off. Keith kept his, despite it's especially fluffy nature. He wore a helmet nearly constantly anyways, and saw little point in cutting it. Qvir were normally taller than qylar though, stronger, and Keith was told more intelligent, but he'd begun to doubt that in his four years flitting about the empire as a foot soldier.

The raego were the most intelligent gender though, intuitive, and quick to come up with idea's and plans. They too were covered in fur, but their ears were small, and didn't move on their heads like qvir or qylar ears did. Raego tended to move up the ranks more easily, thanks to their brilliant minds. His mother had warned him that they were especially cruel though, when they visited the nursery ships. They were also especially cruel to prisoners, dissenters, rule breakers, and generally anyone who breathed too loudly in their presence while they also held a rank, Keith had learned. They often had serious under bites, which most other soldiers would mimic to taunt them. Keith never did... he was forced to keep his head down, an almost impossible task for him, considering his temper.

The Ruj were the final gender, and harder for Keith to pinpoint. They were scaly, and unlike most Galra, they had irises and pupils. They had fin-like ears and scales that were dark purple on their heads, always in a line toward their spines, and a few dotted about elsewhere on their bodies. Their crews tended to have higher moral, it was true, but it was harder for them to rise through ranks it seemed to Keith. And apparently they did not generally visit nursery ships either, though the odd one who did, his mother had told him, had always been surprisingly gentle. His mother had told him that his father was a ruj, which at least made him feel a little better about it.

Keith sat down, deciding he could afford to slack off a little bit, at least right now. He had only just leaned against a wall to ignore what he was supposed to be doing when the intercom crackled to life and a familiar voice echoed through the ship.

"All hands, prepare for a worm-hole jump. Repeat: All hands, prepare for a worm-hold jump. Assault strikers ready, all hands, prepare for a worm-hole jump." Keith scowled as he found the right spot on the wall and hit the button for a row of chairs to pop out. He sat down as several others jogged over, strapping in beside him. It was another minute before the familiar vibrations and rocking came to tell him they were in a worm hole. It was always uncomfortable, jumping. He always felt a touch queasy when they came out the other side.

Keith unstrapped once they had jumped and went back to his post for now. Better than having to fight anything. Keith didn't like fighting anything... seeing what the empire did to all these species, all these people... it left a sour taste in his mouth. Part of him wondered if perhaps the way qylar were treated was just as wrong as the way aliens were. It must be. None of them were free after all. All of them were forced to comply or die, though Keith... Keith, full of fire, and told many times that it should be smothered out... Keith had decided he would rather die.

For the longest time nothing seemed to be happening at all until he heard a crash and a bang, and a siren alert went off inside the ship, signalling that the fighters were scrambling and launching. Were they in a battle? Keith frowned, but a noise caused one of his ears to pivot and he turned. Footsteps... coming this way. Soft voices, not Galran. Another sound from another direction and he gritted his teeth. Stay and fight or follow the sound, the humming bell-chime that rang in his head from the strange robot lion in their cargo bay...

Damn it all. He wasn't going to fight some stupid aliens. The droid soldiers could handle that, so he followed the chime, the energy that always pulled him in. Keith spent all of his spare time inside the hangar bay, watching the red barrier, and the lion it contained. He wondered what it was, why he felt connected to it. He never sat out in the open of course, that might raise questions, which might get him dragged before Sendak, who might recognize him, or at least suspect... Before Keith was quite aware of it, he stood in front of the lion again and glared at it this time. No one was around them...

"You gonna tell me what you want or what?" Keith snapped at it now. Stupid thing. It called him here again and again, and now, in the middle of a fight! And all it ever did was stare at him silently, the red shield up and it's silent judgment weighing upon him. He stared at for what felt like an hour, but he knew it wasn't, when a sound caught his ear and he turned to see a group of armed drones running past. Toward the jails? The alert for a jail break went too and he scowled before he tapped the button on his helmet as the drones ran towards the hallway and ran for the control panel. In his time as the guard, the one who patched up prisoners after a fight, kept them alive, fed them... he'd grown attached to them. Grown to feel guilty over what the empire was and did... not that he was able to do much. The empire enslaved it's own as much as it enslaved others.

"You aren't getting those prisoners!" He growled, hitting the airlock button. Another alarm blared and Keith was grateful his helmet flattened his ears so much, it muffled all the noise. Keith grabbed to panel as the airlock opened and the vacuum of space pulled at him. The droids were out, so he reached for the panel again to close it but flying debris hit him. He tried again but... shit...

"Shit!" He lost his grip too and out he went, into space. No, no, no! These suits didn't have jetpacks. They were designed to keep him alive if they lost containment, if the oxygen was gone... but not to get him back in a ship if he was actually sucked out into space. Okay, okay, deep breaths... he looked around, scared before the sound of the lion caught his attention, the sound he'd heard for months each time it called him. When he looked again it was right in front of him... and then he was inside it.

"Good... good kitty," He said, grinning a little as he reached for the controls. He'd never piloted anything, but it felt easy too. Natural. He could see other lions that looked like this one, but... different. An escape pod was going to the planet they were orbiting and Keith moved to guard it down, the other lions apparently following him down.

"Everyone to the castle, where the Black Lion is!" Keith heard over a communication radio in the lion. He followed them, grinning, a little terrified and giddy at once. He'd broken the rules by escaping the nursery ship... he was breaking a lot more by helping these people... but maybe he could make a difference. Maybe he could make things better.

He settled his lion in beside the blue and the green lions, noting that his own lion was only bigger than the green one. A small figure dressed in a black and white space suit ran out of the green lion and stood before the door just then. Keith couldn't see him too well but... he felt familiar. There was no way Keith could know him though right? He was an alien after all and Keith only saw the prisoners. The Black Lion roared, and Keith jumped when all four of the others, his own included, roared with it before the alien in black ran forward and into the new lion. Five lions... why five anyways? Couldn't they build more or something?

"Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere! We need Voltron, _now_!" A new voice called over the radio and Keith swallowed lightly. What... what the hell was a 'Voltron'? The voice that spoke was pretty and light, and yet held fierceness to it too, in a way Keith wasn't used to hearing. It felt like a kind voice. At least he knew who Sendak was and how cruel he could be...

"Yeah!" The others echoed and and moved up and out of the bay after the blank lion. Keith moved too, worried about this. He had no idea what he was doing, and he had no idea what a Voltron was, but apparently they had to form one. Somehow. With five lions. Under heavy fire from the Galra, which he also was, not that any of these guys knew it... They all landed, under a particle barrier that several flyers were shooting at when Keith saw the purple gleam of the ion canon. He really hoped he hadn't just left the empire only to die in this fight against one Galra ship... then again, if they were captured alive he would suffer a fate far worse than death.

"Man, those Galra guys repair things fast!" A new, deeper voice came over the intercom. Keith nearly replied that they had things like that down to an art-form but he refrained, fearing it might give him away. He supposed if they survived this it would happen anyways, but hopefully if he helped them here first they would trust him a bit better? Then again he was even wearing the Galra uniform...

"The barrier gets weaker with every blast. Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenceless!" Another deeper voice said. It had a thick sounding accent, not light like the first voice had been. Keith bit his lower lip, his eyes narrowing at the ship in concern.

"I can give you cover with the castle defences for a while, but you have to form Voltron now! Or we'll all be destroyed!" The first voice again, Keith recognized. He swallowed again, refraining from asking what a Voltron was still. It might not be good for moral if the others knew that he had no idea what he was doing or what was even really happening. All he really understood was that if he fought the Galra with them, he would be free from them too. Forever.

"Geez. No pressure..." That was the one who talked about fast repairs... right? Probably. Keith tugged off his helmet to hear better just as the second ion canon blast hit the shields. He winced and watched the shield as it flickered, barely surviving this blast and swallowed.

"Listen up team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?!" Keith's eyes widened at that voice, his right ear popping straight up and swivelling to point at the intercom as Champion spoke. That was _definitely_ Champion's voice! No... Shiro. Shiro. He had hated the name 'Champion' when Keith had called him that. He felt more confident with a fighter like that on his team. There was a unified cry of confirmation and they all started forward out of the barrier.

"Uh... how?" Came another new voice. Even in the heat of battle Keith couldn't help but find he really liked that voice a lot, which was a touch embarrassing. He really should use more than just a voice to form a crush, right? Right. Either way, it was a relief to know the others didn't know how to form a Voltron either.

"I don't see a 'combine into giant robot button _anywhere_ on my dashboard!" It was the repair guy again and Keith blinked in surprise. A giant robot was what they were forming? They already had five giant robots, why combine them into one? Wasn't five lions better than one of the Voltron's? Although forming a giant robot did make the most sense for what a Voltron could be, and Keith admittedly felt a little silly for not thinking of that probability sooner...

"This is insane! Can't they just cease fire for _one_ minute while they figure this out? Is that too much to ask?!" That voice sounded young, like one just entering adolescence. The green lion broke formation now and grabbed one fighter in it's jaw, thrashing it about. Keith was about to respond when the yellow lion slammed into his suddenly, causing him to struggle to recover.

"Hey!" He growled over the comm, his first time actually speaking to them. Well, other than Shiro, but he wasn't sure Shiro would even remember him. A lot of the time Shiro had been beaten up... one time missing an arm.

"Well that didn't work. Hey, so you _can_ talk!" So the repair guy was in the yellow lion, Keith knew that now for sure. The black lion held Shiro. The adolescent was in the green one... so the pretty voice was probably the blue lion right? He supposed the other two must be in the castle then.

"Maybe if we just... fly in formation, we'll combine? Ready? One! Two! Three! Voltron!" They did all take off, but if anything, Shiro just sapped his confidence. If Shiro had no idea what they were doing, they were probably doubly screwed right now, right? Nothing was happening until Keith noticed purple light around them and sighed, his hands letting go of the controls. Not even destroyed, they would be tractored in... and once they inspected him... qylar were too valuable to execute, and anyways, he belonged to someone specific.

"Nothing is happening! Wait... I feel something?!" The blue paladin, who likely hadn't clued in yet.

"I feel it too! Like... we're all being pulled together in the same direction!" The yellow one this time.

"Uhh... guys... I think I know why... look up!" Shiro's voice, concerned, but not dismayed yet. Keith should have known. He should have known better than to try and fight the Galra empire. He registered the voice of the green paladin, but didn't process what was said either. He registered another blast from the ion canon and some shouts from the others, but he said nothing in return. Not until Shiro spoke again. The universes only hope. Can't fail. Work together, win together. Keith grabbed his controls then, and somehow he felt the others doing the same as they broke out of the tractor beam.

He honestly didn't do much where controlling the change was concerned, but quite suddenly his display changed and he moved, punching his lion? The arm? It was both! Into the ion canon just as it prepared another shot. It wouldn't get another one off. So _this_ was a Voltron! Keith grinned, his despair of a moment ago suddenly giddiness.

"I-I can't believe it!" He grinned in amazement, and his ear swivelled to listen to the other paladin's equally delighted comments of confusion and happiness. The yellow paladin also said something about being a leg. It was a team effort, pulling the cannon off, but it was mostly just him firing off an ion cannon of his own inside the ship. There were no prisoners left on the ship... just soldiers, and they were mostly terrible, he already knew. And yet... there was guilt too as fire blossomed out of the ship and it blew up. He ignored that for now, working with them to bring the ship down. When it crashed towards the ground he could feel a pull from his lion as they all disconnected and landed again, before the castle.

The other paladins walked out of their lions, jumping and congratulating each other... another two people left the castle, but Keith... Keith stayed where he was, grabbing his helmet and pulling it back on. He didn't know what to do... he had to reveal himself eventually but what would they do to him? What would they say? Not only was he Galra, he was qylar. The most useless gender or all of them... he wasn't strong, or smart, or fast, or ruthless... the qylar were the nurturers, he had been told. The mothers of their whole species. Important yes... but only when it came to giving birth and caring for newborns.

"Hey man, come on out..." The blue paladin called, looking at he red lion now. He really was pretty, Keith thought, but the others were looking now too. Three of them had pointed ears and markings under their eyes. There was Shiro... and the other two looked like they might be from his species too. He stood up and the red lion bowed, and Keith walked out to meet his fate. His step only faltered when he saw their expressions, shock, fear... and hate.


	3. The Galra Can't Be Trusted!

Hey look, we're already at chapter three! This story is getting way more attention on my AO3 account though so honestly I might move all my stuff there instead and shut down here...

* * *

When the red lion had first launched out of the Galra ship, Lance had assumed one of the prisoners that Shiro and Pidge had freed was the pilot. He had assumed they were like him, hurting, angry, afraid... and ready to destroy the empire that had taken everything they could from everyone they could. Lance had thought that perhaps they might be friends, might bond over that shared frustration. Lance had thought this right up until the Red Lion had bowed it's head and it's pilot stepped out of the cockpit, dressed in the purple, red, and black armour of the Galra soldiers, a red helmet on his head. The Galra warrior stopped a few feet from them, his expression unreadable.

 _Oh, HELL no._ Lance thought, feeling himself glaring at this person. There was no way that one of those responsible for all of this, for all the suffering in the universe would ever be his teammate. Lance would never accept this yellow-eyed freak as a paladin, and he was in disbelief that Red would choose one _especially_ after the mistake that Black had made ten thousand years ago. Allura and Coran wore similar expressions as his at least, of anger and hate. The humans looked confused more than anything, and the Galra in front of them didn't budge. Or drop dead on the spot, Lance would be okay if he did that too.

"Um... so... this is not... what we expected..." Shiro said slowly, trying to ease the tension they could all feel in the air now. He looked confused, and concerned, but he didn't know who the Black Paladin before him was either. Shiro didn't understand fully that the Galra could never be trusted. The Galra in question pulled his helmet off, revealing larger, more mobile ears, and a lot of fluffy purple on his head.

"I surrender," the Galra said suddenly, dropping the helmet and raising his hands up and watching them. Lance couldn't discern his expression, but he was suspicious of that. Even before the war, Galra warriors prided themselves on never surrendering, never backing down. It had to be a trick of some kind, a trap. Allura and Coran looked like they thought that might be the case too. The humans seemed to relax at that though, accepting it as a genuine surrender.

"Do you have any weapons? You should put them down in front of you if you do..." Shiro said, his tone gentle, but stern. At least the humans weren't _totally_ trusting. It was still a Galra after all, still the enemy. The Galra reached down and pulled a singe knife from his right boot, placing it on the ground before himself, then kicking it away and towards the paladins. He stood up again and raised his hands once more before glancing back at Red.

"Uh... does... the lion count, 'cause I'm not sure I can lay that down in front of me, it's a little big..." He tried a small grin, all fangs, which seemed to unsettle everyone else as much as it did Lance, who glared harder at the Galra. The Galra dropped the smile quickly, flinching just slightly, hands still up as Shiro picked up the knife carefully.

"When I knew the Galra, they had a policy of not surrendering. What is it that you want? Who are you? How do you have the Red Lion?" Allura asked, her voice and expression hard, unyielding. Her voice betrayed her anger too, but if the Galra noticed, it didn't seem too concerned. Either he didn't care, or he was used to being yelled at, and either was possible considering. His bright yellow eyes seemed to stay fixated on Lance, something that irked him even more somehow. The Galra's larger ears both stood tall, pointing towards them to hear them all better, though the left one occasionally swivelled to listen behind himself.

"My name's Keith, I did surrender, I am still... surrendering, so I mean, maybe your info is a little outdated. I got sucked into space and the lion picked me up, it's been calling to me since it came on board the ship a few months ago, but until today it didn't do anything. During the fight it called to me again, so I left my post... and... I want to fight Zarkon. I know you don't have any reason to trust me, but I'm now a traitor to the Empire. I want to help you." He said. Lance snorted lightly. No reason to trust him was right, and Lance didn't. There was _nothing_ that would get him to trust a Galra now.

"Galra _don't_ surrender. Princess, we're not actually going to entertain this are we? They're a _Galra_ w _arrior_ and only death or success stop those. They're all loyal to Zarkon anyways, they're probably a spy!" Lance insisted. He would rather shoot this 'Keith' and be done with him now. Allura looked like she wanted to do the same thing too. Maybe he should list that as an option that was open to them. Killing Keith now would save them a lot of grief in the future after all.

"I don't trust them either. But they are the one chosen by the Red Lion, so we can't just send them back or kill them either. We're going to have to confine you until we can determine whether or not you're telling us the truth. If you are, then... we'll discuss you working with us. If not..." She frowned at Keith, a stern look in her eyes. Keith didn't look too pleased with the idea but he nodded once. Lance pulled out his bayard, the gun appearing again.

"Come on, I'll escort you..." Lance said. Maybe he'd hit this guy once or twice too? Not like Allura would be too upset with him probably if he did bump his bayard on Keith's head once or twice. Or Coran by the look on his face, it seemed he hated Keith as much as Lance did, and trusted him about the same too. Lance was a bit dismayed when Shiro spoke again though, an annoying voice of reason when all Lance wanted to do was be as unreasonable as possible.

"I'll come too. Just in case he causes any trouble..." Shiro said. He looked at Lance though when he spoke, and Lance suspected from Shiro's expression that Shiro thought _Lance_ might be more trouble than Keith was. Keith did go quietly though, not fighting them while they lead him through the ship in a tense silence, put him inside an empty room, and sealed the doors for now. Lance breathed a sigh of relief once the Galra was locked up, feeling safer with it confined.

"You all think he's lying huh?" Shiro asked as they walked away from the room that they were temporarily using as a prison cell. He sounded disappointed, like he didn't like the assumptions the Altean's were all making about Keith, and it made something hot burn inside Lance's stomach, twisting itself in knots inside of him.

"Of course he's lying! He's a Galra!" Lance snapped, feeling his hand tighten around his bayard, still in his hand, though no longer holding it's shape for him. Shiro was their captive for a year, he knew how bad they were! Or had he really forgotten everything about his time there? Everything they had done to him? Or maybe humans were all like this, too trusting, too quick to forgive those who wronged them. Altean's held grudges for centuries after all...

"Yeah... he is. Something seemed... familiar about him though," Shiro frowned and shook his head, looking confused. "Might be nothing..." Lance hoped it was nothing. They returned to the main hall together, mostly in silence now, where the other paladins, Coran, and princess Allura waited for them. The lions were all still parked outside, their particle barrier's going up as soon as they were left alone.

"So... how do we question this... Keith guy?" Pidge asked now, frowning in thought. Lance wondered that too... after all Galra were pretty good liars when they wanted to be. If Keith was a spy he would have a background all cooked up for them, and reasons that sounded believable for wanting to flee the Empire himself. Lance had already decided privately not to trust a single thing Keith ever said to him. Lance sat down, glaring silently at the floor for now. His head hurt, he was tired. Lance wanted to lay down and sleep, and try to process everything that had happened to him today.

"We'll have to find some way to make sure he isn't lying to us. If we don't know, then we can't trust what he says either way, and if he's going to be piloting a lion, we need to be able to trust him," Shiro was right there. They couldn't form Voltron if they didn't trust each other after all. Lance didn't really care about forming Voltron right now though. He just didn't want _Keith_ on the team, or in the castle, or anywhere near him.

"The lion chose wrong." Lance said stubbornly. Keith couldn't be the Paladin. Maybe it was just trying to escape, and used him to do it? Maybe Keith or some other Galra hacked into it some how and tricked it? Chose Keith for the fake paladin because he was small and cute, and fluffy? Lance mentally kicked himself for thinking a _Galra_ , of _all_ things, could be _cute._

" _Can_ the lions choose wrong? Is that like, is that like a thing that can happen?" Hunk asked, looking a bit surprised and concerned by the idea. After all, it might mean his had chosen wrong too, and Lance knew the thought of being chosen incorrectly was not a happy one for any Paladin.

"It... it _has_ happened before, a few times in Voltron's history. All of the lions have chosen incorrectly on at least one occasion, but only once was that mistake truly devastating in it's consequences. It's possible they tampered with the Red Lion too. We don't know how long they had Red for, after all. It's quite possible that it's been hijacked somehow, and wouldn't have chosen Keith under normal circumstances," Allura said what Lance had been thinking.

"Hey, do the Galra have physiological responses when lying like humans do? Maybe we could build a polygraph test? It's not always accurate, but I think I could make it possible to pick up lies too, once we get a baseline on his readings, and if he tells at least one lie that we know of..." Pidge said and all of them stared for a second at the Green paladin.

"I uhh... I guess that could work, right?" Shiro shrugged, apparently not entirely sure of what Pidge just said. Lance wasn't either, but if they had a machine to detect lies, that was very useful to them, and not just for finding out Keith's true intentions.

"You can have whatever you need to build this machine of yours, Pidge. Let Coran know what you need and I'm sure we can find something that will work, at the very least. Lance, you can help too... though... for the rest of today, perhaps we should rest. It has been a long and... difficult day. For all of us, I'm sure," Allura's voice was strained towards the end, Lance noticed, his right ear twitching lightly at the odd tone it carried.

"Ah, please follow me Paladins. I'll show you to the rooms you can use while you're here," Coran said, standing up and heading down one hallway once the other paladins made to follow him. Lance knew they were being led to the rooms that the Paladin's traditionally used and something in his heart felt wrong about using those rooms, at least, for the time being.

"If... if it's okay, could I stay in the quarters I had before...?" Lance couldn't quite get an end onto his question. Before they went into stasis? Before Zarkon betrayed the Voltron Alliance? Before Lance's home world, his civilization was destroyed? Before everyone and everything he had ever loved was taken from him forever? Allura looked at him with understanding in her eyes and he was relieved to see it wasn't pity. Lance couldn't stand being pitied.

"Yes, of course. If you are more comfortable there, you can stay there, but... let us know if you would like to move at all... or if there's anything we can do or you..." Allura said. He nodded once to her, grateful that there were others on board at least who understood the magnitude of the loss. They had lost it all too but... Allura and Coran had each other, at least, in a way that Lance didn't. He had known who they _were_ of course, everyone on board had, but he hadn't really known them or spoken to them.

Lance walked silently behind the other paladins until they reached the hallway that split off towards the servants quarters, and Lance turned off, grateful to get away from their noise. He normally was a chatterbox, an incessant flirt, and a truly extroverted socialite, but right now all he wanted was quiet. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare. Being a Paladin of Voltron was his dream when he was a child, but it wasn't worth this. It wasn't worth losing everything, and he wished more than anything that he was dreaming something terrible right now, that he'd wake up and not be the Blue Paladin, but on Altea, going on vacation in a week with his family.

When he reached his door Lance paused and swallowed, before opening it up. There was no dust in the room, the castle automatically filtered the air after all. Everything was right where he had left it too. Books, clothing, pictures, letters... the pages on the letters had changed, even without dust. They looked older now, drier and brittle, like if he touched them, they might turn to dust. It made him feel all hollow and alone, to see the paper had aged so much. It was proof that this wasn't some horrible, unfunny prank. Proof it wasn't some lie or a way to mock him for something he'd done. Lance felt horribly empty, horribly alone in the universe in that moment, staring at those papers on his desk, right where he had left them, in the middle of writing back.

A lump formed in his throat, and his vision blurred as tears formed in his eyes as the horrible emptiness inside filled with grief like he had never known before in his life. Lance sank to his knees, the tap of his knees hitting the floor echoing around the room, too loudly before the first choked sob escaped him. Another followed the first shortly, and quite soon he was curled up on the floor, sobbing openly and loudly for the loss of everything he'd ever known.


	4. Question Period

Okay, so unless this gets more attention here on this chapter it won't get updated on this sight any more. I will update the AO3 version still, but not this one. It's a bit of work uploading it twice, especially since a lot of times I forget to upload the edited version to both sites... so... yeah, unless I have a good reason (namely, people actually read this here and show me they read it here by commenting) I probably won't update it on FF any more.

* * *

It was three days of nearly constant solitary confinement for Keith. They left him alone, more or less, except to bring him food goo, which tasted oddly better than the food goo on Galra ships. They also sent some clothing for him on the second day, a huge relief since the armour was uncomfortable to sleep in. He managed to bite a hole in the pants for his tail too, and right now he sat on the bed, staring at the ceiling silently as he waited for... anything. They wouldn't answer his questions usually when they did come, but it was always the orange-haired one. He had a very cold expression when he saw Keith. A knock on the door caused his right ear to lift up in curiosity. It wasn't time to eat after all...

"Attention Galra warrior! We're coming in. Please stand with your feet and hands apart, your hands on the wall!" It was the youthful voice, the green paladin who spoke and Keith scowled a little bit before standing up and doing as the aliens told him. He wanted to make a snide comment but he didn't dare. Keith's ears both flicked backwards when he heard the door slide open and several people walked in.

"No sudden movements. Actually, make a sudden movement, that gives me an excuse..." The pretty voice... the blue paladin really hated him huh? That felt like a bit of a slap, but he ignored it for now as Shiro placed something on one his left wrist. Shiro pulled Keith's arm gently behind his back though, and then took hold of Keith's right wrist and moved it back before clicking it in too. A restraint? It didn't seem all that tough a restraint, but Keith wouldn't test it.

"Is... all of this really necessary?" Keith asked as Shiro led him out of the room and the blue paladin pressed the gun he was holding into Keith's back. He could feel the fur on his tail standing on end, the dark purple tuft on the end fluffing out especially as they walked. This whole thing was very unsettling to Keith, but then he didn't really know the full extend either of how bad the empire was yet. All he knew was there was a lot wrong with it really, even if he had trouble understanding a lot of it.

"You're a Galra warrior, so, yes. It is unfortunately necessary, at least until we can determine that you're telling the truth..." Shiro said. His voice was gentler than the others though, which relieved Keith a little bit. It made him feel safer at any rate, knowing Shiro found this whole scenario to be unfortunate.

"I'm not a warrior actually," Keith said, supposing they should know. He wasn't a warrior though. Technically speaking he wasn't even a prison guard, he was supposed to be property. That part though he might leave out. If they didn't know just from his tail what he was, then maybe they didn't know a lot about the Galra. And maybe they wouldn't know he was useless.

"You're... not? Then what are you?" Pidge asked, "Ah, you'll have to re-answer all of this when we hook you up though, so if you don't want to repeat yourself..." The young alien looked curious anyways.

"I'm... a guard. Sort of. I also tried to keep prisoners in the arena alive after their fights. It wasn't exactly easy but I like to think I did a good job keeping them alive..." He'd only had five prisoners die in his care, and he really had tried for them. He even remembered the names and faces of those five, to try to honour them. The aliens did exchange looks with one another, but they didn't say anything more to him either until he was seated in a chair. The pretty one with silver hair and her orange-haired companion were waiting in the room for them, and the one that was really handsome and matched them went to stand with them instead of the ones who looked like Shiro.

"This goes around your head... uh... oh. I forgot your ears were so big..." The smaller alien frowned in thought before trying to squish it on as gently as possible. It had an x cross over the top of his head, and a band that went around his forehead and the back of his head, but there was enough space to pop his ears out too between the metal bars that went over top of the purplish fluff on top of his head. Not the most comfortable, but he could manage like that for a while. His tail swished back and forth in curiosity, the wider alien watching in fascination.

"Do all the Galra have tails?" He asked, the question whispered to the tiny alien who shrugged and made a noise of uncertainty in response. Shiro rolled his eyes, but he looked like he was smiling too at the question.

"No, most don't," Keith said, as the tiny alien put a small clamp on his finger. He'd half expected it to pinch, but it didn't and he was relieved too. It was a little tight around his claw, but he'd manage. The tiny alien looked at the monitor and nodded to what he'd answered.

"Looks like he's telling the truth there. Most Galra do not have tails. Okay! We're ready I think... what's your name, and rank inside of Zarkon's army?" The tiny one asked now, her expression went from calm to stern surprisingly quickly. It wasn't exactly intimidating though, considering the tiny alien being so... tiny. Kind of cute in a child-like way, that made Keith want to protect it. Odd...

"Keith, and I didn't have a rank," He said. The aliens all crowded around the screen and looked at it, all of them looking to the Tiny one first who nodded once. Then they all nodded too and looked back at Keith. "Can... I have your names? I need something to call you all other than... you know... tiny alien, tall alien, skinny alien... I already know Shiro though..."

"You do?" Shiro looked surprised by that, which surprised Keith a little bit. Had he really forgotten? Keith did suppose that Shiro was in pretty poor condition though, the times they had interacted though. Maybe that was why he didn't remember much?

"You _were_ a famous gladiator... anyways, you can call me Pidge, that's Hunk, Lance, Coran, Princess Allura, and... you already know Shiro I guess..." Pidge pointed to each person being referred to as she listed them all. Keith nodded to show he understood.

"Did anyone on board the Galra ship tamper with the red lion?" Allura asked now, looking very sternly at him. She seemed angry with him somehow. Like he'd done something terrible, committed some heinous crime, only Keith didn't know what he'd done. Unless she knew he was running from his fate? Surely they knew he was useless too, though he wasn't entirely sure they were aware. Did the know qylar by sight? The others hadn't, but it didn't mean she didn't.

"I... I wouldn't know. I always saw it with a particle barrier up, I don't think anyone had figured out how to get inside it. I would sneak into the cargo bay sometimes to look at it, since... it called me a lot. Sendak was down there too a lot of the time, trying to get the barrier down sometimes. He got very angry with it several times actually, it was kind of funny..." Keith said, smiling a little to himself at the memory of Sendak angrily kicking the barrier, only to be shocked by it in response and needing to go to the medical bay as a result. They all looked at Pidge again who nodded once.

"Okay, so Keith, just to make sure this is working properly, could you tell us a lie?" Pidge asked, looking quite serious. Keith wasn't sure what to lie about really, so he thought of the most ridiculous thing he could.

"I am a green and orange Kepplan sand worm," Keith said, still a bit confused by needing to lie on purpose. Pidge, however, grinned at that, apparently satisfied with the results she got on her screen.

"That was a lie, see the spiky pattern that shows up now here? That shows when he's lying... okay, what else... I know! Why do you want to fight Zarkon and the Galra Empire?" Pidge asked. Keith frowned and looked down a little, needing to think for a moment on how to answer.

"Because... the Empire is... wrong. And Zarkon is too. There is something terribly wrong about it all, and... even though I don't really understand it all, I know it is wrong. I can't... I couldn't do nothing. Not when the Empire has enslaved so many. If fighting the Empire makes things better then that's what I'm going to do." Keith said, determined to do that, even if these people didn't want him. He knew it wasn't the best explanation, and it wasn't the whole truth either. Fighting back meant escaping, and surely no one in the empire would want a qylar that was a traitor? Not even the one who chose him. Pretty or not, Keith hoped he'd be executed for this instead of being sent back to his fate. Perhaps it was a selfish reason, but it was as good in his mind as anything else. Besides, away like this... he might be able to help his mother too.

"I don't see a reason not to trust him..." Pidge shrugged, apparently accepting the results of her test. Keith was telling the truth though, and he saw no reason as to why it would tell them otherwise. Lance scowled though, apparently disappointed with it. Allura and Coran still looked cautious too. Shiro and Hunk relaxed too, though Hunk still seemed a touch nervous. It was possible his nervousness stemmed now from how on-edge the other three were though, rather than Keith being a Galra.

"Where is Zarkon's high command? Have you ever been there?" Allura asked, looking like she wasn't ready to stop questioning him just yet. He probably didn't need the uncomfortable helmet now, but he kept it anyways just in case. Removing it meant there was a chance they would see it as an attempt to lie without them knowing after all, and he'd rather not risk that.

"I don't know the coordinates, and there's no way you could beat him there anyways. Not with one ship and one Voltron. I've been there before, once. I was only ten though, I didn't really see a lot of the base either. All I really remember was that it was largest thing I've ever seen, before or since. It's extremely heavily guarded... I'm sorry but you just... can't. It would be suicide..." Especially with five people who had no idea how to pilot those lions properly. Maybe if they trained enough and learned to fight together, and maybe if they had a fleet of allied ships to help them out, but even then, Keith didn't see how they could win a fight like that without huge casualties.

"Would you tell us what you do know then? About everything that's happened over the past ten thousand years?" Allura asked, looking a bit frustrated that Keith couldn't help her as much as she might have hoped. Keith felt a little dismayed that he couldn't either. Good information might have made him useful after all...

"I'll try, anyways. I'm not that old though, I'm only nineteen... and like I said I wasn't doing much. I just kept the fighters alive after a fight and fed the prisoners. I've never even been on a planet before the other day. And anyways, we only learn what we need to in order to help serve our purpose to the empire. It would probably be higher ups who know what you want," Keith hoped that wasn't too strange to them that he'd never actually set foot on a planet until now. He had lived on the nursery ship until he was fifteen when he escaped for other things.

Qylar normally spent their whole lives on the same ship, with only a few exceptions. The prettiest ones were usually chosen by high-ranking officers to keep for personal use, chosen before their heat cycles began to ensure they weren't 'tainted' by being used by too many others. You were lucky if you were pretty enough to be chosen, presumably. Keith hadn't understood _how_ , but his mother told him he would understand when he was older. Keith was older now. He still didn't get it.

"So... is that how you know me?" Shiro asked, looking a bit concerned. He really didn't remember, did he? Keith was a bit concerned by that, but he wouldn't mind filling Shiro in on a lot of it... if he wanted it. And anyways, it looked like Shiro wasn't angry with him for it either, unlike the ones with pointy ears.

"Yes. You weren't easy to keep alive, I might add. You seemed to have a death wish sometimes, with the way you fought. It really was something to watch though. Are all of your species that brave?" He asked, tail swishing excitedly.

"I... I was? I... then, I guess I should thank you... for keeping me alive," Shiro smiled, almost kindly and Keith felt warm. Like he had a friend. Keith had never really been thanked for anything before either. He was called a trouble-maker more than anything, the druids on his ship told him he was lucky he was so pretty, considering his temper, tenacity, and fiery nature. He was terrible at following orders until after he went on the run, but then he supposed that was an act of rebellion too. After he was chosen though they couldn't do much to him. Nothing that leaves a permanent mark, except to brand his collarbone with the mark of the one who chose him. All the high-ranking officers had their own mark to leave on the young qylar, to make sure there was no mistaking who that one belonged to.

"I was happy to help..." Keith admitted, though now Pidge stood and took the helmet off of Keith's head with a soft sigh. Then she took the piece on his finger off. His claw did feel a bit pinched now, come to think of it, but he doubted that was intentional on Pidge's part.

"I don't suppose you know the humans that arrived with Shiro? Sam and Matt Holt?" She asked as she removed the items from Keith's body. Pidge apparently trusted him not to lie even without the truth-showing devices on him, and he did intend to. Her expression was one of concern, a small flicker of hope in her eyes too, as she asked, and Keith wished he could offer more than what he did.

"Shiro was on that ship two months before I was... I'm afraid I didn't see anyone who came on board with him, or where the might have sent them. But... I know where you might find out. There's a chance some of the systems on Sendak's ship are still working, so you might be able to find their records if you can get the panels working again." Her face fell when he'd started, but she looked more determined than ever when he told her the logs might still be there. Keith was beginning to suspect all of Shiro's species really was as stubborn and determined as Shiro was.

"Then... will you help me try to find what I need?" She asked him. Her eyes were so hard for someone so tiny... Keith got the sense that if he said know she would find some way around that and get what she wanted anyways. He nodded his head yes, and she seemed appeased, smiling a little and relaxing. Keith had a feeling that it might take longer than this though for them to trust him, especially Lance, Allura, and Coran, all of whom looked at him with suspicion still, despite the results.

"So... are you all from the same planet? Or different... genders on the same one?" Keith asked now, too curious to avoid asking that any longer. They looked between themselves a bit surprised by it, though the three who didn't like him still seemed almost offended that he didn't know.

"Different planets. Pidge, Hunk, and I are from a planet called Earth. It's... very far away from here. On the outer edge of the Milky-Way Galaxy. Lance, Coran and Allura are from a planet called Altea..." Shiro explained, smiling at him almost gently. Shiro was really good at being comforting, just through simple little things. It wasn't something Keith was used to, but he already liked it. He felt like Shiro at least would accept him, even if no one else did.


	5. Authors note

This story has been discontinued on FanFiction dot net due to a lack of interest. Please continue to read this story on Archive of Our Own instead, under the same author name and work title.


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